Seeing the Galaxy Through No Eyes
by Phoenix S. Midnight
Summary: Rey, while training on Ahch-To with Luke Skywalker, finds herself being tugged to a new planet by a presence in the force she doesn't understand. Far away Kylo Ren also feels this presence, although his Master seems blind. Who is this person? What do they know? A new path lies before the Jedi and the Sith, but will they follow it to its end or destroy themselves and the Galaxy?
1. Meditating on Ahch-To

**I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows taken into account. Thank you.**

Rey felt a sudden tug at her chest as she tried to calm her breathing again. Sitting what felt like a whole parsec away from the fire in the ruined temple wasn't helping her much. This place, it felt so powerful and yet so alien. It wasn't a desert like Jakku but it also wasn't a snowy forest like Starkiller base. Ahch-To was something different- new. And with everything else new in her life Rey wasn't sure that she could handle much more of new.

"Your mind wanders, Padawan." A cloaked figure murmured from beside her. "Wandering isn't always a bad thing, but it won't help your meditation."

Rey took another deep breath and tried again to center herself, but nearly instantly let the breath out in a deep sigh. Her Master was right, she was wandering. To where, she did not know, but she knew she was wandering.

"I am sorry, Master Skywalker." She sighed again. "I don't know where my mind is going, but I keep feeling a deep pull. Something that I can't seem to shake, like a whisper on the edge of the universe."

"As a force sensitive you are more aware of things like this, Padawan. Knowing they are there and acting on those impulses are what separate

a Jedi from a Sith. A Jedi knows and hears the universe and listens as the Force flows through it all. A Sith, however, knows the Universe and sees how the Force flows but wishes to control them to their own will and ends." Luke Skywalker said as he moved to stand. For an older Jedi he was spritely still, in Rey's eyes. "You are beginning to see the Universe through a different set of eyes. It is like being blinded, Rey."

As it was one of the few times that her Master used her real name- she listened deeply. She felt blind, in a sense. But she also felt like she could feel, see, hear, and taste everything. It was like the universe was assaulting her at every turn. Pulling and pushing, like the waves did to the island on which she and her Master sat.

"Master," Rey said quickly as Luke turned to leave her to her meditation practice. "This pull I feel, I don't know why, but… But I think it's becoming stronger. Almost like whatever is pulling me is coming closer. I feel like I need to follow this to its source. It doesn't seem dangerous, Master. What am I to do?"

"Do? You are to do nothing. Meditate on it again, young one. Acting too quickly and we could force our own hands. We must be cautious, calculated. You won a great victory for the Resistance at Starkiller and although no victory comes without casualties… they also do not come without repercussions."

Luke found himself sounding much like Obi-Wan, a thought that at one time would have made him proud. Right now, though, it seemed to be a burden. How was he ever to become like the Jedi of old? He had already failed the Galaxy, twice in fact. And here in front of him was his last hope- and she didn't even know who she was. Or what she could become. And he couldn't tell her.

Not yet.

"Calm your mind, Padawan." Luke said with a tug on his robe to bring the hood over his head. "Follow the tug to its source through the Force and you will find what you're looking for without ever leaving Ahch-To."

And with that he left Rey on her own next to the fire. The scavenger shivered as she shifted to become comfortable. Bringing her hands to her knees and resting them as open as she could she breathed.

In and out, a steady rhythm.

Her mind began to wander again, following the pull like water down a stream. Images appeared through Rey's mind. Memories of her childhood- left on Jakku alone and afraid. The Graveyard of Giants, Hellhound Two- her home. Finn. BB-8. The Falcon. Han. Chewie.

Sweat began to appear on Rey's forehead as she hit a wall, a block, in her mind. There was something pulling her past that wall- but she couldn't seem to get past it herself.

In and out she breathed. In and out she repeated. In and out.

 _'Restrain yourself. Calm strength. Feel it flow through you.'_ a voice said in the air. It was that of a man, both old and young at once. That voice had been in her dreams before, helping her as it did so now. 'Follow the path, the wall is not impossible.'

In and out.

As she meditated, she felt herself leave Ahch-To, and began to climb the wall in her mind. She could almost see herself trying to scale the heights. The pull kept playing with her, toying at the edge of her consciousness. But it wasn't leading over the wall, she found. It was leading around it.

She was running now, running down a path she didn't know on a planet that seemed even more alien than this one. It was devoid of life, it was en echo. It was pain. So painful, in fact, that she almost stopped running- Rey almost turned around.

 _'Follow, don't run.'_

Steeling herself she felt her mind continue through the Force on this planet. She wasn't sure if what she felt or saw was real. Did this planet really exist? Was she there? She couldn't be, could she? She knew that she was sitting on Ahch-To, right?

The path she ran became broken, like something long since unused. The echo she followed became louder and louder. Like a scream in her mind through the Force. The pull in her mind became stronger and stronger as she surged onward.

And then it was gone. The path, the echo, the pull. She was alone again, standing in the darkness of the force.

 _"There you are." A voice, female this time, called across the space. Rey turned in the dark, but saw nothing. No one was there. "You will see me when you are ready. But I see you now, and that is what matters. So listen well, Rey."_

 _"How do you know me?" Rey questioned the darkness. "Who are you?"_

 _"There is no time. Listen." The darkness faded and the planet was back. Lifeless and empty- the echo in the background of the Force returned. "I am here. And here is where you will find me. A planet that lies dead in space. Follow the echo through the force, Rey. Follow it quickly- the galaxy depends on it."_

 _"But- I- What is this place?"_

 _"Follow the echo, and you will know."_

Rey felt a great jerk as she was suddenly pulled into her body again. She was exhausted, and could barely move. The fire had nearly died, and it was suddenly dark in the temple. How long had she been meditating? Where was Master Luke? Who had that been? Where had the Force taken her?

All of those questions seemed to darken at the edge of her mind as sleep began to claim her. Answers, it seemed, would have to wait.

—

Far away on a dead world a figure in a billowing cloak walked across the desolate surface. The girl had finally reached out and followed the call. It had taken months, yet time was precious and short.

"Find me, Rey Kenobi." The figure said to the darkness. "Find me, before he finds you."

A/N:

This is my first Star Wars fic that I have felt comfortable publishing. I realize that it wont be everyone's cup of tea and I accept that. All reviews or criticisms are welcome. I will admit to this chapter being partially Beta'd as my current beta doesn't do Star Wars so I am kind of in the market, I guess, for a beta for this and other stories.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy!


	2. Look and You Will Find

**I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows taken into account. Thank you.**

Kylo was pacing again in his quarters on the _Finalizer_ for what must have been the millionth time in the last hour. Supreme Leader Snoke had given him his orders and he was doing his best to dutifully follow them.

But he just couldn't seem to shake this… thing. This thought that gripped on his mind and clawed at him through the force.

"There is nothing, I feel." His Master had said, repeatedly. "Go, take the Knights of Ren, and find this scavenger. She grows in the force but she is not a Jedi. Her power would be the tipping force. With her and you, the Resistance will fall."

Yet Kylo wasn't so sure anymore. He knew he was powerful- much more so now that the shadow of his father no longer seemed to follow him around like a weight on his ankle.

Taking a deep breath he tried to center himself in his anger. Control is something that Master Snoke had made him learn very quickly, and very painfully. Control is what lost him the battle on Starkiller base. Control is what gave him the scar on his face.

Thinking about it he unconsciously moved to feel the line that ran from above his left eye to his right cheek. It was smaller than it had been as it healed originally, but the Force helped him shrink it. Not remove it completely, for the Sith lived with their scars.

"There once was a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Sion who wore his scars like armor. They bathed him in pain every breath he took- and he was strong. That scar will remind you, my apprentice, of the failure you suffered at the hands of a force sensitive child." Master Snoke had been very critical of the girl, Rey, when he spoke of her. He had reminded Kylo many times that he had been defeated by a defective Trooper and a piece of scavenger scum from a planet of ghosts.

 _'Kylo. Listen.'_ A being pulled at the barest edges of his Force connections. He was trying to find the girl through the force and yet he kept finding this thing. It had to be something, whether or not his Master felt it too. He had grown in his force mastery since the fall of Starkiller nearly a year ago- and he knew for a fact that this was something real.

But was it worth breaking his Master's orders to try and find? Snoke would know if he attempted to find the being through the Force. He would feel his apprentice, as he always could, if he tried to reach out in such an obvious manner.

His hand itched to unclasp his lightsaber and wreak havoc on his room- but he didn't. He needed to compose himself to do what he was about to do. Meditation was a Jedi art, and not something the Dark Side excelled at. Yes, they centered, but full blown meditation was something he had not practiced since his days with his exiled and useless Master, Luke Skywalker.

He walked to the middle of his sitting area, using his hand to cause some of the furniture to move to his will. He wanted space, he needed to feel open to attempt this. But, at least this way, Snoke was much less likely to be looking for his apprentice to be meditating- which left him room to discover what or who was calling to him.

Kylo sat on the floor and crossed his legs beneath him. He unclasped the saber from his belt and laid it on the hard metal floor next to him, it made a resounding and lifeless ring in the silent room. He closed his eyes and laid his hands on his lap, beginning to even his breathing and create a rhythm to follow.

In and out.

It took Kylo barely any time at all to feel himself leave his body behind, a feeling he was quite used to when he was asleep or centering himself before battle or in training. Snoke may have disapproved of meditation, calling it a Jedi tool, but that didn't mean Kylo had forgotten how to do it- or stopped doing it entirely. He was just used to doing it next to his grandfather's helmet. Thankfully one of his underlings had seen fit to grab it when Starkiller had been destroyed.

In and out.

Kylo found himself amongst the stars, walking. He should have recognized the planets and space routes below him, but if his mind knew the names he couldn't recall them at the moment. There were planets, stars, asteroids. It was as if he was standing on the top of the Finalizer, outside the ship, and experiencing the Galaxy as something floating in it. He kept following the pull- it was like a light in his view, leading him forward.

In and out.

Very quickly Kylo came to rest above a planet that looked dead. He could see cities from where he was, barely there dots of what had once been civilization. But the whole planet echoed fear, and death, and chaos. It echoed a hole, a tear, like someone had ripped not only life but the force from this planet. As if this planet existed now outside of the rules of the Force and the Galaxy itself.

In and out.

His descent to the planet was rapid, nearly breaking his concentration. Kylo could have sworn that he felt himself wretch as he tried to regain footing that wasn't really there. He looked around, the planet was as dead as it had felt from above. The ground seemed nearly colorless. The houses were empty. There was no ebb and flow of life here. There was nothing.

 _"Once, Force-User, there was much life here." A female voice rang through his head. "There was life, and joy, promise, and the Force knew this planet well. But that was ages past."_

 _Kylo looked around, desperately trying to find the source of the voice. "Show yourself, wretch!" He yelled into the nothingness. His voice couldn't even echo here. It came out hollow._

 _A small chuckle answered him. He turned again trying to find the source of this laugh. "Where are you?!"_

 _"I am here. But you are not ready to see me, or you would have already."_

 _In an instant the planet disappeared and Kylo found himself looking at what he believed to be a mirror. Staring back at him was two people. One was himself as he was currently, maskless and meditating- but this version of him seemed fuzzy and unclear. The other, however, was masked and his lightsaber was drawn. He was ready for battle. Like the first, this one was also unclear. He seemed to be ripping apart in many places at once- but he showed no fear nor pain._

 _"You aren't even ready to see yourself yet, are you?" Kylo growled a little at this. "Neither are clear. One is fading, one is broken. Who are you, Kylo Ren? Who are you, Ben Solo?"_

 _"You know nothing of who or what I am! Now show me who you are!" Kylo demanded again as the mirror fell away into the darkness at his feet._

 _"You will see me, when you find me. When you are ready." The voice was fading, the darkness was beginning to lighten. "Find me- and you will find the answers you seek. You know where to look."_

Kylo opened his eyes and found himself profoundly tired. He wasn't even sure that he could get up off the floor. He thought of calling for a serving droid but it wouldn't do for him to be seen as weak by anyone on this ship- especially General Hux or his Knights he had with him.

"Who are you?" He whispered as he fell backwards on the floor. Legs still crossed, still partially sitting, Kylo Ren fell asleep with turmoil running through his mind.

—

"You know where to look now, Kylo Ren. And look you will." The figure stood at the edge of the roof on which she stood. The sun was setting in front of her and the wind whipped at her clothing. Even the air felt dead here, like the last breath of a life. "Now come and find your destiny."


	3. Echoes in the Force

**I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows taken into account. Thank you.**

Rey awoke the next morning in a daze. The voice from her dreams had come again, as had always happened when she needed guidance the most. She liked to believe that it was the voice of her family- but she couldn't be sure she even belonged to anyone. Who was that man who haunted her dreams? Who's voice did she hear?

The sea air was salty as it blew over her, making her shiver in the pale light of the morning. It didn't look too early yet- which was probably why Master Luke had not come looking for her. Or maybe he had and he'd left her upon seeing how she was still in her meditation position, just laying down.

"Time to get up, Rey." Her joints cracked and groaned as Rey stretched her nearly frozen in place legs and rolled onto her stomach. Sleeping on the ground was something she understood and knew well, but this cold air she still wasn't used to. Jakku had been much warmer, and even space seemed warm compared to this island. "For a place without snow, it could certainly fool me."

It was the damp, she knew. Master Luke had been quick to teach her that this was actually decent weather here as far as temperature went. Rain made it feel much colder when it did, and the constant winds never helped.

Walking out of the ruined temple meditation room she looked at the rising sun in the distance. It seemed so serene here, a peaceful place well removed from the issues that raged in the skies above and parsecs away. The First Order were not beaten, she knew. The Resistance was not done fighting. The New Republic, though badly crippled and currently leaderless, had not given in the fight to the First Order either. If anything- destroying the Hosnian system had rallied more people to the truth that the First Order is worse and more ruthless than the Empire had ever imagined being. Rey shuddered again at the thought of all of the lives uselessly lost merely because of their home planet.

"These moments make me wonder what the Jedi of old would think of the Order now. Would they weep at how still the Room of a Thousand Fountains has been? Would they understand the pain of the Temple sitting empty on Coruscant, unused and plundered." Master Luke had apparently walked up without Rey's knowledge as she stared, for she visibly jumped when he spoke. "What emotions did they feel as they looked at the great Galactic City below them as they trained, ate, lived?" There was a pause as Luke sighed and waited, breathing the sea air deep. "What do you think Padawan?"

Rey turned to look her Master in the eye. "I think that you must return to the resistance, they will need you now more than ever. I think that it is time that the Jedi do return to the Galaxy. Time to show Snoke that we are unafraid. That the Jedi have evolved and will continue to protect the Galaxy at all costs." She paused and Luke remained silent. He seemed to know she wasn't finished, and was waiting for her to work up whatever she needed to say the hardest part of her speech. "And, and I think I must leave. Master, I followed that tug through the force like you requested of me and I know I must go. I would prefer to go with your approval."

"You felt the echo through the force, did you? The planet you seek echoes outward to you now, doesn't it?" Luke asked with all seriousness in his face. "A woman, she calls to you?"

"How do you know?" Rey's eyes widened at the possibility that Luke may have known this whole time what had been causing her mind to wander. She wanted to be angry about it but couldn't be. He was more skilled than she, even after these months of training, at the Force and its complexities. Of course he would know.

"Because that same echo has called to many Jedi over the centuries. Or, the planet has. It is a like a wound in the force- and it was caused millennia ago by a Sith lord. How he caused such a thing I would not know. The holocrons in the Temple may but there is little chance any of those still exist or are even in useable shape with such times as the Galaxy has seen." He sighed and motioned to the path down the hillside. "Come with me, and we will talk. Then we will make our plans."

"Yes, Master." Rey bowed a little and began walking down the rough cut steps with Luke. "If I may, Master Luke, but you said the _planet_ has called to Jedi? What about the woman? Can a planet really echo through the Force in such a way?"

"The woman, if that's what she really is, has not been on the planet long. A few years at most, but even that may be impossible. The planet is dead, devoid of all life and all potential for life. It spins, orbits, and continues on in space but it is not alive anymore." Luke stopped to adjust his cloak. "It's name is Katarr, and at one time according to what little Jedi history Obi-Wan and Yoda had with them in their exile it was once a wondrous and lush planet full of life and it housed many Force Sensitive people. The most notable things I found in the histories were that a colony of nearly completely Force Sensitive beings lived there and that it was destroyed sometime around when a Jedi Conclave sought to meet there. Very little else do I know for truth about the planet. What else I have gathered has been through attempting to follow the echo it leaves to the source."

"You keep speaking of an echo, but I don't understand. Master Luke, what could cause an echo in the Force?" Rey was genuinely curious, for she did not yet understand how the Force could create such things. It seemed far to big to imagine, but not impossible.

"An echo in the Force is created through quite literally wounding it. Yoda had a single holocron about this on Dagobah, although I do not know how he managed to retrieve it from Coruscant. But the holocron taught that to wound, or be wounded, in the Force it would take a massive amount of loss of life done to or by a Force user. Not just a Sith or Jedi could cause such wounds. If one uses the Force to create the destruction then the outcome is the wound in the Force. All actions have consequences- all of them. Whoever caused the deaths of Katarr would have had to have been a Force user, and someone of great power. That kind of destruction, on a scale that complete, rivals the abilities of the Starkiller base you and Chewie spoke to me of and that was a machine. Think of it, Rey, if the Sith could destroy whole planets merely by walking on their surface would that not be more of a reckoning than a planet-sized weapon?"

"Then didn't the destruction of the Hosnian system create the same kind of wound in the Force? Technically it was caused by major destruction, even if it was caused by a machine."

"The Hosnian system will leave its own mark on the Force, yes. Alderaan did the same when the Empire destroyed it. The deaths of the Jedi when the Emperor took over created little echoes in the Force- places in the Galaxy where the Force is drawn more deeply. Some wounds, however, cannot be fixed by drawing the Force to them and Katarr is one of the very few that the Jedi knew of. The Force is actually repelled from Katarr, which is the echo you hear. How that woman is walking on its surface without feeling immense pain tells me she shouldn't be a Force sensitive, but she must be to be able to call as she does through the Force."

"What do you mean she shouldn't be a Force sensitive?" Rey sat down around a fully built fire. She hadn't realized just how far they had walked as her Master had explained things to her. It seemed like it had only been moments but from the sun it had been longer than that, although not by much. "Why couldn't a Force sensitive be on the planet?"

"Because a wound like that, in the Force and in such a way, could in essence cause two things to happen to a Force sensitive or Force user. The first would be that it would send all of the Force senses into overdrive, a person on the surface would be able to feel the entire planet's worth of death and pain constantly- the would not be able to shut it out unless they in turn severed themselves from the Force. It is something I know little of but have heard of as a punishment by the Jedi in severe cases. I do not believe anyone has ever done it intentionally to themselves." Luke stopped and chose to sit as well, drawing his robe close as he stared at the fire for long moments. "The second thing that could happen is that it could actually drain any Force users or sensitives of their abilities with the Force, leaving them helpless and nearly blinded. Most Force users, and especially the Jedi or Sith of old, rely far too much on their abilities to see things not only physical and to be blinded on such a scale would cripple them. It is why even those who don't feel the Force the way we do steer clear of the planet, they can still sense the drain even if it is not affecting them."

"The woman in my meditation said that the Galaxy depended on me finding her on the planet that echoes in space. Master Skywalker, Master Luke, I must go. The Galaxy needs Jedi now more than ever. You must return to the Resistance and I… I have to go to this planet, to Katarr." Rey forged onward with her thoughts as she felt she would not say it all without this courage she felt now. "I know that you say that patience is a virtue of the Jedi, but has the Galaxy not been patient enough? The Jedi of old waited to act and it nearly caused the entire Galaxy to burn under the rule of the Empire, are we not doing the same as the First Order swallows the Galaxy whole star system by star system?"

Luke held up a hand to stop his apprentice. She was spirited and sometimes that ran away with the lightsaber when she felt that she needed to talk about things all at once. Patience, it seemed, was still a lesson for another day. And although he saw the dangers of her leaving his side at this stage of her training he knew well from his meetings with the Jedi of old, including his father, that this was where their paths seperated for now. How they came back together would be completely based on her decisions. He had done what he could with the time he'd been given.

"You will go to Katarr, using my X-Wing. R2 will have made it operational by now. Leia, or General Leia, has informed me of the new Resistance base through an ancient code I taught her before I exiled myself. Chewie and I will be returning to them and you will go to Katarr. Just remember this is a dangerous time for you, Padawan. Do not let temptation sway you, do not let the dark side in." With that, Luke stood and waved Rey to do the same. "You will leave at dusk, so you must prepare."

"Yes Master Luke."

A/N: Thank you to all of the readers! I hope you didn't mind this chapter, it was a lot of history. Promise it will get better!


	4. The Knight and the General

**I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows taken into account. Thank you.**

Kylo was awoken the next day by a not-so-soft knocking at his door sometime later. He couldn't ever be sure if it was morning or night when on a ship, not that it really mattered anyway. A Sith, and the First Order, never slept. Would never sleep. Not until all resistance was crushed.

Not until that Scavenger was put in her right place.

Groaning and stretching his stiff legs he lifted his arm and waved at the door. It was locked but a simple lock meant nothing to the Force. The door unlatched and rolled open to reveal General Hux and one of his Knights. He couldn't tell who from his position on the floor, but that meant little at the moment since the look on Hux's face meant there was certainly interesting news hiding behind the surprise in his eyes.

"Did you manage to out do yourself again, Ren?" Hux asked half pleasantly. They had never gotten along, the two of them, but recent months had seen the General and the Master of the Knights become a little more friends than enemies. "Or is there an intruder on my ship I should stop all activity for until we find them?"

"Your sarcasm is noted, General. And no, I was trying to master a new technique and managed to fall asleep while doing so." Kylo replied as amiably as he could, given the circumstances.

"Supreme Leader would either be rightfully proud or very vengeful at such an admittance." Hux laughed, making the Knight standing next to him shuffle a little uncomfortably. "Get off the floor, Ren, before your Knight sees fit to drag you. It's making them uncomfortable to see their leader in such a position."

Kylo looked past Hux to the Knight, the helmet shape told him it was either X'lor or Il'ili. Most likely from stance and size it was Il-ili as X'lor wouldn't be showing compassion at this moment- not in his armor.

"Knight, please remove your helmet. This isn't a formal meeting and you are not required to wear your formal gear in the presence of the General unless Supreme Leader or I have ordered it so." Kylo rolled his eyes a little as he moved to his stomach and nearly leapt to his feet from there. "Now, General, there must be a reason you are disturbing my training attempts and it would be prudent to tell me what it is."

"The scouting mission has ended upon D'Qar. The planet has been emptied and any useful information that the Resistance may have stored there has been either taken or destroyed. We found nothing more than some weapons caches and false leads that we already checked. Supreme Leader is calling us back to Coruscant as he intends us to reinstate the New Republic on the bones of the old." Hux shuffled uncomfortably for a minute, apparently gauging Kylo's reaction.

"He made those intentions clear months ago, General. We had not done so yet because he had not said it was time- so now we follow orders. If I may, though, I must inform you that I will not be arriving to Coruscant with the _Finalizer_ and yourself. I have… someone to go find."

"Do you have information on the scavenger, Master Knight?" The electronic voice was distinctly female beneath the metallic tones. "If so send myself and a squad to retrieve her, we will not fail you." The female Knight placed her arm across her chest and knelt down in front of Kylo.

Had he not been in front of the General he would have openly sighed. Il'ili had always shown more compassion and feelings for him than was wise for one of his underlings but he had done nothing to rebuke her for them. He didn't mind the fact that the Zabrak found him attractive- what he _did_ mind was that she felt that doing sometimes foolish things would get his attention. It did, but usually in the form of failure. Il'ili had required multiple retraining sessions thus far, too many more and he would be forced to turn her over to Snoke for further education.

"That is unwise, Il'ili Ren. As trained as you and your squad are they would not be a match to this scavenger. She has had many months in the company of a Jedi and- even though his powers are no match for those of the Sith- she would easily be able to win a battle." Kylo said dismissively. "However, there is something very important you can do for me."

"Anything, Master Kylo." Why Il'ili constantly felt the need to call him that was a bone of contention between the two of them but he let it slide this time. "I am at your service completely."

"I am going to need a full astrogation chart put into the navicomputer of my long-distance shuttle. Also if you could pack provisions for a lengthened stay, and for multiple people, that would be much appreciated. I do not know how long I will be or how long I will have my… company."

"Very good, sir." With that Il'ili knelt again quickly before rushing off to do his bidding. It was only after she left that he realized the Knight had never removed her helmet. Oh well, he could punish her for that thing later as it was too small to worry about now.

Once the girl was gone Kylo waved his fingers at the door again and it shut behind Hux's back. The ginger man felt the metal graze his uniform as it closed, sweat forming on his temple as the latch engaged.

"There are other reasons you are here, Hux, and I would like to know them." Kylo said as he moved to his kitchen. "Tea while you talk? Or would you prefer something stronger?"

"Tea is fine." Hux crisply said. "And how do you know there is anything else? I could have just wanted to give you the news that your traitor mother is still at large myself rather than send an underling."

"Because I know you well enough to notice when you're off, Hux." The use of names was something new between the two of them, but only in private informal places. "And, for starters, you have two completely different shades of black boot on."

Hux looked down only to blanch. The Knight was right- his feet did not match as far as color went. An odd detail to notice but for someone like himself mismatching shoes would be a very large clue that there was more on his mind than what had come out of his mouth. Damn Kylo, he was right.

"I have been receiving reports lately, that have not made it past me to the Supreme Leader yet. And I am unsure if they are something that I should pass along or not." Hux sighed as he moved to one of the chairs that sat around a small table. He sat as comfortably as his discomfort would allow. Hux had never been one for sharing anything- and this was one of those things he wasn't sure about at all. Could he trust Kylo Ren? Not really.

"I'm all ears and no tongue, Hux." Kylo said as he poured water out of the kettle into a smaller pot. He left it plain so that the two men could pick from his range of teas.

"That is not what I have heard from others on this ship, Kylo." Hux jabbed with a smirk. "Or are those rumors nothing more than loose lips sinking ships?"

"The fact that you just made that joke with me tells me that you definitely need to talk to _someone_. So, what are these reports that you keep hearing?" Kylo set the tray with the pot, cups, and different tins of tea powders and roots down. He picked two of them and began to mix his tea. Hux shakily reached for his own as the silence lengthened. "General, I will not tell my Master what is said here- I will give advice only."

Hux took a very deep breath and closed his eyes. "There have been reports of Miraluka colonies emerging again- on the edges of known space. I know the species was never completely wiped out but I also know that the Miraluka are usually like… well, like you."

"Force sensitive?" Kylo was intrigued now. It had been decades since Miraluka had gathered in any strength more than a family or two. The Empire had decimated their numbers and many of them had just plain went into hiding because of that.

"Sensitive or users, as some of your Knights would call it. And as much as I can't really believe that the Force is such an all powerful thing I have seen you at work, I have seen what it can do. And it makes me wonder if these beings pose a threat to the First Order or is it safe to allow them to congregate as they are."

"I would say allow it, for now." Kylo made sure to add emphasis to this last part. "Exterminating an entire race off of a hunch does nothing, and Master Snoke may see this as a good thing. If they collect in one place than the First Order can easily overtake that place and use their… distinct differences… to our advantage."

"That is a sound plan, but it goes no further than this room." Hux said as he sipped on his tea- it was bitter but not in an unpleasant way. "Now, where are you going to find this scavenger of yours?"

"I don't know what planet it is, but I've seen it. I'm going to the Outer Rim, I believe. The planet could also be in the Mid Rim, I am unsure. But I know that if I follow her presence through the force I will be able to find her."

"And you think that you'll be able to take her on your own? You've lost to her once, you know." Hux moved his eyes to the faint line that ran down Kylo's face.

"This time I am more prepared, and I will have plenty of time to think of a proper plan before my ship even touches solid ground." Kylo diffused his anger as he talked. He allowed it to flow through his veins but did not act on it in the moment. "And I hope to give her a similar scar, whether or not she agrees to come with me willingly."

"How fitting." Hux stood, having downed his tea in a few quick gulps. "I have other business to attend to and you have a planet to find. I will see you on Coruscant." Hux walked away and Kylo opened the door for him while still lounging. The General wavered and stopped just outside the door, turning back to the young Knight. "For your sake, Kylo, I hope that you come to Coruscant with the Jedi, and preferably alive."

"I will." Kylo replied firmly as he closed the door in Hux's face with another wave of his hand.

 **A/N:**

 **I am coming to where changes to Canon and Legendary (non-canon since Disney) lore, the core ideas are the same but certain events have been changed. KOTOR and SWTOR lore, both of which are very interesting, will be intertwined with this but will be different from what you may know, so please be kind.**

 _ **Also, if anyone is a Beta or can Beta this story that would be amazing. I am finding it hard to find a Beta for this story and others I would like to post. My usual Beta isn't in to this genre so she doesn't want to mess up my characterizations with her lack of knowledge.**_

Thank you to all who have read, messaged, or reviewed!


	5. Destiny

**I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows taken into account. Thank you.**

The pit that had fallen into her stomach had yet to fill and she had left Ahch-To behind almost five standard hours ago. Not that time meant much in space, because it really didn't. It still moved with the universe as it always had but how was one to tell the time when there wasn't anything to really do other than to hope to avoid all detection from the First Order.

"How are we doing R2?" Rey said into her headset. Master Luke had told her to remain on complete outer radio frequency silence but talking to R2 was an inner system within the X-Wing so there wasn't an issue with it.

R2 began to beep and zap rather brightly behind her. He seemed rather happy to be back in action, although he was upset that Master Luke had taken away quite a bit of his memory banks to ensure that they couldn't be used against the Resistance if they were captured. It was like his Master didn't trust him!

"I'm sure he trusts you, R2. If he didn't, why would he have sent you along to make sure I stay out of trouble? He could have easily sent Chewie with me instead."

R2 mechanically laughed and made what sounded like a raspberry noise to her through the headset. He knew she was trying to cheer him up, and made a comment about how she was starting to sound like BB8 had for the little bit of time he had been with the new droid. Which got him off on a tangent. What if Master Luke decided BB8 was a better droid for him? Master Luke wasn't permanently getting rid of him, was he? Had he become obsolete in the time he had been nonfunctioning? He'd show them, Master Luke and BB8, he'd make sure that Rey got through this mission without a scratch and back before anyone even thought possible!

"Don't rush things, R2. Master Luke hasn't permanently sent _either_ of us away. I am trying to see what this… this person wants. And he said I needed someone to watch over me. He really does trust you, R2." Rey said with a small smile as she looked at the astrogational charts in front of her on the small screen. "We are as close as we are going to get as far as a hyper space route is concerned. There really aren't any that close to where we are trying to go. The closest hyper space route is going to put us near Taris. Can you remember if that planet is heavily First Order controlled?"

R2 scanned what memory Master Luke had actually put into him for this trip and beeped back that he wasn't sure. The Hydian Way, the route that Rey talked about, was patrolled by the First Order but it looked like it was more gang controlled than anything. Which was good for them, since gangs were going to be less likely to recognize their ID Signature as an X-wing. The less people who knew where they were the better.

"Alright, we'll take that route to Taris then. Just try to keep our signatures low, I don't want to exist hyper space just to be overtaken by First Order. That would make this trip rather short, wouldn't it?" Rey laughed as R2 whistled his own laughter. The two of them were trying their best to keep things light.

The pit in her stomach seemed to deepen with every moment. And she wasn't sure that she liked that feeling.

* * *

Kylo Ren still wasn't sure where he was going. His shuttle was comfortable enough but he did not want to be stuck on it for long. Talking to himself for long periods of time had drastically bad consequences on his dark side alignment. Damn conscience.

"I'll turn on the map to room fill, then I can walk amongst the planets. That will help me figure out where I'm supposed to go."

Kylo turned to the console and moved his fingers in a wave like motion. The cube that held the full astrogation charts began to turn in its reader. He was trying to see where his feelings pulled him. He knew that the planet would pull to him. He wasn't sure how, but he just knew it.

 _'You will only find me when you're ready.'_ The voice in his mind threw him off just long enough for his concentration to slip. The map stopped moving.

"Get out of my head. I'm going to find you, one way or another." he growled as he closed his eyes again. Taking a deep breath Kylo sat on the floor of his shuttle. "But if I **have** to do this **your** way then I will. If only to get to you faster."

 _'You may not like what you find, Force User. Because you may not be who you think you are when you find me.'_ Whatever the voice meant, Kylo rolled his eyes. He knew who he was. Whoever this was certainly wasn't going to like him when he found them.

"Breathe, and let the Force guide you." Kylo told himself as he tried to center his mind. He wanted to find this person, this woman, so desperately. He could almost taste it. He would force whatever information she had out of her and then he would make her suffer like she had tortured him for the past months. And then, only then, would he give her the satisfaction of the quick death she didn't deserve.

 _'You'll find me where the force cannot go.'_

That thought stopped him in his tracks nearly instantly. Where the Force cannot go? That was impossible, he thought. The Force was everywhere. It was what bound the entire universe together. It was the literal life behind everything, how could there be a place that the Force couldn't go?

 _'Find the hole in the force, Knight. Find it and you will find me, and your destiny.'_

Kylo growled again. He knew what his destiny was. It was to finish the great cleansing that his Grandfather had started. It was to rid the universe of the weakness that is the Jedi, that is the light. His destiny was to see finished what Vader started and continue the dream onward. He knew what he was to do.

 _'You know nothing, Ben Solo. And you've learned little in all of your years as Kylo Ren.'_

"I know more than you, whoever you are." Kylo breathed again and tried to center himself. "And I'll show you, whoever you are."

He could have sworn that he heard a laugh in his mind when he said that and shrugged it off. Kylo began to breathe again, in and out. He had to be able to center himself in the Force so that he can try to find this supposed place where the 'Force can't go' or whatever that means.

"The place the Force can't go." He began to mumble to himself as he moved his hands in a motion as if to move the cube in its holder. The map moved around him through the room. He was searching blindly, literally and figuratively. His eyes were closed as he twisted and turned the cube with his mind.

"Where the Force can't go." He kept saying to himself.

 _'Find me, find your destiny. Follow to where the Force can't go.'_ The voice trailed off as the cube turned against him, he allowed the map to move on its own until it finally stopped. He waited, seeing if this mystery woman had anything else to say or do. There was nothing.

Kylo opened his eyes and nearly swore. The sector that the mad had stopped on was a rarely travelled area of the Mid and Outer rims. He knew the place well, the Hydian Way ran right through it, but he couldn't figure out where this place that the Force couldn't go could possibly be here.

"It has to be one of these planets. But there's no planet here that doesn't somehow have life on it. If the Force can't be here then life can't be here!" He drew his lightsaber from his belt as he stood and angrily swung it in the air. He didn't ignite it, as Leader Snoke had reminded him many times- many painful times- that igniting his saber in such a small space would be a bad idea.

Calming himself as best he could, he looked again around the small cock pit and at the map. There were quite a few planets. Bandomeer, Taris, Mandalore, Ploo. This area of space was where the Mid Rim was very thin and very quickly became Outer Rim and beyond. He kept looking, there had to be something here he would feel. He knew that when he saw the planet he would just _know_ that it was right.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, a point on the map that had no name made him pause. It wasn't a star, nebula, black hole… It was on the map, but not on the map. He smiled a nearly cruel smile as he moved through the map to the controls of the ship.

"Found you."


	6. Sarcastic Droids

**I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows taken into account. Thank you.**

Rey pulled the older X-wing out of hyper space around half a parsec outside of Taris. She was probably being more cautious than she should be but she really wanted off the main hyper space highway and the sooner she could the better she would feel about this. She hoped.

"Too late to turn back," She said to herself as she navigated the ship out of its usual course. Obviously a ship didn't have to follow regular routes, but they were the fastest ways to get anywhere. And this planet, how Master Luke even had it on a map at all, had long since been taken off any hyper space route. If it had even been on one when it had life on it. However long ago that had been.

A series of happy whistling beeps from her headset remind her that R2D2 could hear her. He was in the middle of telling her how the time to turn back had been before they even left Ahch-To when she interrupted him.

"Sometimes, R2, I'm not looking for an answer." Rey laughed. "That was a rhetorical thing, but I thank you for trying to cheer me up anyway. It's nice to know that I'm not alone. Makes me feel better."

R2 blew a metallic raspberry at her and reminded her that she was lying to herself. Rey thought about turning off the communication but then she'd really be alone. And she didn't want that. She would just have to deal with R2 and his sarcasm. Which was a weird thing to deal with, a droid's sarcasm. They must only put that ability into an astromech droid. BB8 was nearly the same. Protocol droids were all business though.

"Relax R2, I can do this. A little doubt won't instantly turn me to the dark side, it just means I have doubt. Not fear. Doubt." Rey rolled her eyes and continued to navigate the X-Wing. "So just nestle in and hold on because we'll be there soon."

R2 went back to whatever he'd been doing to the ship beeping about how she was toeing the line and this was going to end terribly if she wasn't careful so Rey just ignored him. The silly droid was just being overcautious. Master Luke must have spent a **lot** of time with him for R2 to have picked up that particular trait.

In the droning nothingness that was flying alone through space Rey began to wonder what this person was calling her for. The voice in her vision had been female, but then there was also a male voice… well, what sounded almost like male voices. Could they all be connected? Was the man she heard the same as the woman? Did the person, thing, calling her even have a gender? Rey hoped so, since she wasn't exactly sure that she was ready for any more surprises.

Then the idea of the planet hit her mind. Master Luke had been very clear in her final words to him that she was walking away from him for a very long time and that her decisions now were going to shape many things. She recalled the conversation as they neared Null, from there it was around 2 parsecs to Katarr.

 _'Remember what we've worked on, Padawan. The Force flows through all things- through every choice and every consequence of those choices.' Master Luke had told her while Chewie and R2 had prepared both ships in the background. 'You are not yet fully trained yet, Rey, but I know that you must trust your instincts on this one. Just as I have to trust mine.'_

 _'What if my feelings are wrong, Master?' Rey had asked, doubt creeping in as they walked alone the ruins one last time, up to the meditation chamber where she had initially seen the vision of the planet without Force. 'What if this is a mistake?'_

 _'No choice is immediately a right or wrong choice. What makes it right or wrong, what makes a person light or dark, is what they do with those choices. How you handle your emotions, that is what makes a choice light or dark. Allow the Force to guide you and you will not fail. However,' Luke said, stopping and facing her. He rested a hand on her shoulder and looked her directly in the eye. 'Allow your emotions, this doubt you have, to creep too far in and it shall become fear. And through fear you will fall victim to the same temptations that has caused many Jedi to fall. The Force needs you, the Resistance needs you- so follow the Force and you will walk in the Light.'_

 _'But, Master, isn't some doubt normal? Is doubt not different than fear?' Rey was confused, her face must have shown it for Luke smiled._

 _'Doubt can lead to fear. And fear is the first step to following a path from which there is little chance of true redemption.'_

 _'Didn't Darth Vader find redemption?' Rey asked honestly. 'Was he not Anakin Skywalker when he died?'_

 _'My father found redemption, yes. But that is the first Sith redemption, true redemption, in millennia. I have yet to find holocrons or records of any other true redemptions. Gray Jedi, or Grays, existed once. They are the only Force Users who could toe the line between Light and Dark- and even then the temptations of both sides pushed and pulled their existence. Some Sith became Grays but that didn't mean they had found redemption.'_

 _'One day, Master Luke, I would very much like to see some of the holocrons and records you have managed to find throughout the years.' Rey smiled as Chewie hailed them from below- the ships were ready. 'You seem so wise compared to me.'_

 _'I am wise compared to many, and naive still compared to some.' Luke smiled and pat her shoulder in a fatherly way. 'Now go, Chewie and I will depart after you so that our signature transmissions are separated by time. That should look less conspicuous to the First Order or anyone else who may be looking in this sector.'_

 _Rey bowed deeply to her Master. She looked up at him soberly. 'I will not fail you, Master Skywalker. I will not fail the Resistance. The Jedi will protect the galaxy once again.'_

 _Before Luke could respond Rey was dashing down the mountain and to the ships. R2 had been secured into the X-Wing and was happily beeping away at being home. Rey laughed as she climbed the ladder Chewie held for her so she could board the craft. She stopped to give the big wookie a hug and turned. She looked up the cliff to where Master Luke stood, tall and proud in his old age. He looked pensive, like he carried a heavy thought._

 _'Goodbye, Master Luke.' Rey said softly as she climbed into the cockpit and readied the engine. 'Ready R2?'_

Rey allowed herself to begin to drift into a meditative state. R2 would warn her if their signature was being picked up, or if he felt they were too close to a rare passing patrol. Even the Resistance couldn't know about her trip- or it would put her and this entire mission in jeopardy. As her eyes began to close and she began to feel herself sink into the Force she began to calm.

"Emotion, yet peace."


	7. Drowning Untouched

**_I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows taken into account. Thank you._**

Rey felt a sense of foreboding as she looked down at the slowly turning planet. It looked dead, even from here. There was no green, no life. Even the water on the surface looked gray. As if all color had been taken from the planet when life had been taken. Now more than ever she doubted her choice to come here.

R2 beeped in the headset to let her know that he had found, he thought, a possible life reading on the planet below. He couldn't tell, however, since there was something about this place that seemed to mess with his sensors. He whistled bad feelings as she squared her shoulders.

"We've got this R2. Can you put the coordinates of the possible life into my navigation? I'm going to attempt to land near there as close as possible. The less time we have to search this planet the better. People are counting on us." Rey did her best to keep her voice steady as she talked so R2 would not know of her trepidation- although she was sure he already knew.

A few beeps later and Rey had the roundabout coordinates for what R2 believed to be a life form. Taking a final deep breath she began the descent to the planet. The life form seemed to be near one of the larger cities on the planet, or at least within a few klicks. R2 was trying to narrow down the sensors as they descended but he kept angrily beeping about difficulties. At one point whistled to Rey about feeling blinded and not liking it.

"You'll be alright R2. Even if your sensor is down you're never really blind. Besides, you're quite aways above the surface yet so the fact that you managed to come up with anything through the disruptions is pretty amazing, don't you think?" Her response was another sarcastic raspberry metallically blown into her ear. "Very funny R2. I see a landing pad so I'm going to go there. It's nearly dead center of the rounded coordinates you gave me so hopefully that will lower our search time. I don't think we have time to search the whole planet."

Rey guided the craft in-between the empty buildings and into what was once a hanger. Other hangers that were open held ships still- as if their owners were going to be coming to fly them at any time. The whole place looked as though it was trapped in time, like in one single instance when the Force was ripped from this place all time had been ripped too.

"It looks so untouched." Rey commented as she felt the usual thud of the landing gear hitting the ground. "No ships have been stripped. The console there," She nodded as if R2 could follow her eye line. "that looks like it could still work. There isn't even dust settled on it."

R2 began to whistle and spout quite a bit of doubt. He wanted to restart the engine and leave, now. He didn't care that Master Luke had told him this was important- there was something wrong with this place. There were no energy signatures. No life. Yet there were disruptions in his sensors, everything he couldn't sense was coming back in hazy and hard to read out.

"You'll be alright R2. We've already landed, so we're not going back." Rey released R2 from the ship and opened the hatch so she could disembark as well. "You stay here and make camp. If Master Skywalker was right then there isn't anyone here to disturb us and we will be able to camp here near the ship without issues. I'll explore a little and see what I can find- okay? I've got my comlink so you'll be able to contact me if your sensors manage to pick anything up."

R2 whistled that the plan sounded good to him and he would unload the gear they had to get some sort of camp set up. He continued on saying that even though it seemed the very air was still on this rock that he was still going to attempt to close the hangar doors to the bay.

"Very good, R2. It wouldn't do to have someone come along and see the X-Wing. I can't even tell how old some of the ships on this planet are, or if they would even still run or be worth anything, but I don't want to risk foolhardy scavengers trying to make a quick credit to find us." Rey said as she walked to the door panel of the open area. It looked untouched by the years, not even dusty. She ran her fingers along the metal, it didn't even feel cold and sprang to life at her touch. She looked at the system, the words on the screen were written in Common, a very old dialect of Huttese, and a language she could not recognize at all. It looked like an ancient form of Aurebesh, but Rey could not be sure. "R2, can you come here please? I don't want to end up coming this far and destroying us by misusing the computer system."

The sound R2 made was very reminiscent of a laugh to Rey, and it made her smile. It felt good to the both of them to be able to take things lightly, even here on this desolate and dead planet. Popping his third wheel down from the center of his body cavity R2 wheeled himself over to the terminal. It seemed that outlets were nearly unchanged through the millennia- which didn't surprise him at all. Sentient beings were against most changes when something still worked it seemed. Either way his job was easy enough, he just ported into the existing system.

The mechanics felt like they had been just used, there was no distinction that this planet had been literally dead for millennia. The system accepted him in readily and seemed to be buzzing about. Repair droids scheduled to work seemed to be working, or according to the system they were. Without investigation R2 and Rey would not know just how alone they really were on this planet. Ignoring that, but keeping a mental note for later in his database, R2 opened the inner doors to the hangar bay. The terminal then began to whiz and whir as it created a cast-plast card with what R2 deemed to be a simple but readable encoded strip.

"I don't know how you managed it but thank you!" Rey exclaimed as R2 explained that it was a master key of sorts. She would be able to enter and leave any doorway that had a typical electronic lock. Physical locks, however, she would have to deal with on her own. And R2 wasn't sure whether or not there were physical locks with as old as this place seemed. "I'll be fine. Empire locks were easy enough, and I'm sure that I can figure it out anyway. We're probably going to be here a while."

And with that Rey walked through the inner bay doors. She swiped the card in the door panel as she passed to open the outer door. R2 beeped a quick goodbye as the doors shut behind her, a metallic locking noise made Rey jump. Her breathing hitched as she tried to calm her emotions before she stepped out into the corridor.

In what felt faster than an instant- Rey couldn't breathe. She couldn't think, couldn't move. There seemed to be so much noise in her head that she wasn't even sure if it was in her head anymore. Faces, voices, words and worlds from another time. She was drowning, yet she was nowhere near water. Vaguely Rey realized that she was on her knees, but that was the last coherent thing to cross her mind as the edges of her vision began to blur and blacken.

 _"Don't turn from the pain, transcend it. You know how- do it."_


	8. Millennia Without Air

_**I DO NOT own recognizable Star Wars characters, events, places, plot lines, items, and anything else Lucas has licensed. I DO own my OC character *to be named in a later chapter* and a few places/events that I have created myself. There IS changes to canon lore in the form of more info from my own mind with the canon books, films, games, and shows considered. Thank you.**_

* * *

Rey was so sure that she wouldn't survive this, the pain was too intense, too deep into her skin, it was unlike any pain she had ever experienced before in her life. This was worse than even the beatings she had received on Jakku, and that was saying something for the scavenger to admit it even in her mind. It felt almost like she was drowning; her body was weighed down and she could not get air into her lungs-

' _Transcend the pain,'_ The whispery voice repeated its command into her mind, Rey focused wholly on the voice as a desperate way to remain conscious of anything at all. _'Be stronger than the pain, Rey. Remember your training in your years of solitude and transcend the temporary pain.'_

Rey was getting angry with the disembodied female voice as it tried to tell her what she could and couldn't do. Yes, it was an encouragement but in her current position even encouraging words were nothing more than mockery as the edges of her vision began to darken and fade from the startling lack of oxygen and the crushing pain in her chest.

' _ **Rey.'**_ A new voice, male in origin, whispered into her fading thoughts. Rey recognized this voice and found herself instantly snapping to attention to listen to it. _**'Let the Force sustain you, allow it to guide you as you have since your birth. This place is trying to rip the Force from you to sate its own hunger, do not allow it- take it back, hold it, balance it within you.'**_

Rey found this a curious thought and didn't even fully realize that she was already doing what the voice wanted of her as her vision cleared. She took a breath and barely noticed it fill her lungs and ease the pain a little. Hold the Force? Balance it within her? She'd done it before, once, on Starkiller before she had attacked Kylo Ren with a mixture of vigorous hatred and sense of righteous justice.

The pain in her chest receded to a manageable level, though it was in no way gone completely from her mind. Rey was breathing again normally now, though labored in a way as if she were exerting herself in a physical manner. She noted that thought for later and took a careful calculation of her injuries, if any, as well as the place around her.

' _ **Think of Jakku, think of Ach-To, think of D'Qar, of Takadona. Think of your friends and the Force as it flows through all living things, from the stars above to the smallest of creatures below. Allow it to move within you and without you, but do not lose it to the pull of this place.'**_ Rey followed the advice of the voice and allowed her mind to wander to her friends and the faces of those she remembered in any fondness from the few places she had seen since leaving Jakku at all.

Maz Kanata sprung to her mind, the small alien with the bright eyes and the kind heart. She was calculating and full of mischief, but was also such a caring soul. Finn and Poe followed her thoughts as well, her mind worrying for a moment on Finn's current health status- she had very little news while on Ach-To. Luke, Chebacca, General Leia… all of their faces flashed within her mind, bringing with them warm thoughts of life and comforts.

With a deep sigh, a physical way to help her bring the intangibility that is the Force into her body, Rey grounded herself to the Forceless place one last time before she opened her eyes again and truly looked around for the first time. The buildings seemed ready to support life instantly, as if their inhabitants were merely out for a stroll rather than long since dead.

"You handle the force like a Master of the old ways, which is rather intriguing considering you are a novice with very little training. And no real training of the old ways in the first place." The female voice from her head spoke to her again in a matter-of-fact tone. Except, much to Rey's terror, the voice was no longer inside her head- it was _out_ of it.

Rey stood and whipped around faster than a kath hound on the hunt, her hand flying to the staff that was slung low over her shoulder. The shrouded woman noted that Rey had not immediately went for the lightsaber, a curious thought in such circumstances.

"You need not attack me, young one." The woman's voice was soft and eerily ethereal even now. Her face, what could be seen of it, was soft and feminine in nature- light skinned and marred by no marks or scars. "You will get no fight from me here, or at all."

"Who are you?" Rey asked suspiciously, lowering her staff only a fraction. "And why did you call me here?"

"I am no one anymore, so that is unimportant to burden you with such knowledge." The woman replied briskly, shaking her head. The golden band on her crimson hood caught the light distractingly as she moved, Rey forced herself to look away from the garment and focus on the woman. "I am, or was, a Miraluka. A once great race of Force sensitive beings, now they are scattered and homeless- a slowly dying beast clinging desperately to life."

"Was?" Rey had not missed that word, homing in on it like a rocket to its target.

"I have not breather air for millennia, child." The Miraluka's voice echoed a little as she spoke, Rey began to wonder if it was a trick of the empty buildings or just the sound leaving the woman's mouth as it was. "My name, as it was long ago, was Visas Marr."

"Millennia?" Rey's curiousity was winning out now, her staff having been dropped almost completely in her grip as it relaxed. "What do you mean you haven't breathed air in millennia? Are you dead?"

"In a way, I am. But I also am not." Visas replied gravely. "I gave my life to attempt to close the wound my home world had become in the Force, a wound one of my Masters created in his hunger for power."

"Your Master did this?" Rey studied the woman with wary eyes now. "That means he must have been a Sith."

"Once in my life I believed I was as well, I thought I held the ideals of the Sith and their hunger for destruction and power. Those thoughts were short lived, however, as my need for balance and life won out over the supposed loyalty I held to my Master." Visas turned and began to walk away through the corridor. "Please, Rey, follow me. There is nothing here that can harm you."

"Shadows can be harmful," Rey replied offhandedly as she restrung the staff over her shoulder and moved to follow Visas Marr through the empty streets. She noticed that only her steps made noise against the stones beneath their feet.

"Shadows hold only what we allow them to hold, Rey. Our fears are best brought to light, for then the shadows can hold no sway over us any longer." Visas' reply confused the young Jedi-in-training and she found herself pondering them more and more as the two walked through the streets. "You have questions, I can feel them projecting from you."

"I… Yes, I have questions." Rey's stern voice was strong save for the single slip in the beginning. "How could you serve him? If he was the one to destroy this world, your people, how could you follow him back to the darkness he came from? And how did you escape that place?"

"Many questions, too many to answer just now." The Miraluka gave a soft and sad smile to Rey, who opened her mouth to object. The shrouded woman held up a hand and continued to speak. "I will answer them in time, but for now I ask you to be patient with this; and think on it when I am done."

"Yes, Visas." Rey nodded her head eagerly, wanting to learn anything about this mysterious woman.

"I was on the surface when he arrived, his hunger a palpable thing even from the sky. I felt the life leave my home as he walked on the surface, draining all Force from the planet even down to below the surface. He turned this place into a husk of what it had been, and I could feel all of it as he stood here. I meditated deeply as he continued to consume everything; my home, my family, my future… I begged for release from the pain, the planet consuming pain, that he had brought with him." Visas stopped in front of a door, Rey stopped and looked at the unassuming building for a moment before Visas continued. "I do not remember much after he found me. I wasn't hiding, nothing with life force could hide from his hunger or gaze. He showed me the galaxy as it was, and still is, through the eyes of beings that have no connection to the Force. Those visions, added to the already piercing pain of the destruction, wounded me in a way that I would never truly recover from."

There was silence then, Visas apparently done speaking for the time being. Rey digested everything quickly but did not spend much time thinking on any of it as her curiosity found her asking for more information- something the Miraluka denied almost immediately.

"I am sure you are tired, young one." The woman took the card that R2 had made Rey and put it against the pad on the door, it beeped and the door slid open to a darkened house.

"What is this place?" Rey questioned as she stepped forward, her hand going for her staff once again. Visas placed a hand against Rey's arm to stop her, the touch feeling almost like water- it wasn't fully solid to Rey.

"My home."

* * *

 _A/N: Yes! I am back for more with this story! I will be updating the previous 7 chapters to reflect the tone of this and the rest of the story a little better. I went back and completely rewrote this story (as well as Silence of Jealousy, which I hope to have the first chapter for out tonight or early tomorrow) to fit with my plotline and the tones of it a little better than it was before._

 _A warning to my readers: this story will have character deaths, smut, and other more adult themes so I just wanted to warn you all now that it won't be complete lightsabers and Millennium Falcons. (sunshine and daises, sorry- I'm weird!)_

 _Hope you all enjoy the new story and I will be trying for an update every other day on a rotating schedule so I am (or will be) updating ALL of my stories over the course of the weeks to come._

 _Thank you!_


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